Side-furnace oil still



Nov. 1, 1927.

R. A. PORTERFIELD SIDE FURNACE on. STILL 2 Shuts-Sheet 1 Filed March 12. 1921 R. A..PQRTERFIELD SIDE FURNACE DIL STILL Filed March 12. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lxlll lllllll Mm A. wm o 3410mm; P Mk awvewtoz Nov. 1, 1927.

Patented Nov. 1, 1927.

UNITED STATES E T OFF CE.

. ROBERT A. PORTERFIELD, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOB T IElRIJ'DEhl'TIA-Ili OIL CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

. sins-romance on. s'rrLL.

Application filed me. 12, 192;. Serial a... 451.674.

' The invention is a side furnace oil still,

so constructed, first, that the bottom of the 2,2 of Fig. 3. ,Fim 3 is'a vertical transverse section on the line 3, 3 of Fig. 2.

Similar numbers of reference indicate like parts. p

4 is the cylindrical still closed at both ends and having the usual man-holes 5 and'pipe connections 6. The setting of masonry is here quadrangular in form, with end walls 7, 8 and front and rear side walls 9 and 10. Secured diametrically opposite on the exterior of the still are brackets 11, Fig. 3, which rest upon the upper ends of vertical channel bars 12. Said bars and brackets are imbedded in the masonr of the side walls. On the exterior of sai side walls are a number of channel bars 13 which are connected to the channel bars 12 by bolts 14 extending throu h and also imbedded in the masonry of said side walls.

In the side wall 9 are recesses 15, Fig. 2, which communicate with the furnaces which are formed as follows: Within the space en- 86 closed by the side and end walls is a longitudinal bridge wall 16, between which and the front side wall 9 are four transverse firebrick partitions 17 which rest upon masonry bases 18, Fig. 1, so that, in the construction 4 illustrated, five fire-chambers 19 are thus produced. In each of said chambers is a grate 20, Fig. 3, supported at its rear end upon a low wall 21, and at its'front end upon a plate 22, above and below which plate are respectively the firingl opening 23 and the ash pit openingl 24, t ese openings communicating with t e corresponding recess 15 in the side wall 9.

Between the bridge wall 16 and the rear side wall 10 is a partition 25 which forms the bottom of a horizontal flue 26 closed at one end by the end wall 8 and extendin at the other end 27 through the end wal 7, Fig. 1, and communicating with the stack or chimney. This flue is covered at its ends by plates =28,- Fig. 2,.of fire-brick, and by separated plates 29 of similar material. The I intervals between thecover plates 29 are 1 disposed so that the gas current from each of the furnaces passes through one of said intervals to the escape flue. That is to say,

the products of combustion from'each furnace, as for example 19* in Fig. 2, pass from the grate and over the bridge wall 16 to the interval. a. which is in line with that furnace and then downward through that interval to the common flue 1.26, and so to the stack.

Each furnace, therefore,may be fired and operated independently of the. others, and each furnace acts u on the limited area of the still bottom which is directly above it and included between the adjacent partitions 17 or partitions 17 and adjacent end walls 8, 7 which bound the fire chambers of the several furnaces.

Particular attention is now directed to the fact that while the still 4 at its ends rests on the end walls 7, 8, there is normally no contact between the bottom plates of the still and the partitions 17; but, on the contrary, there is a clearance 30 between the still bottom and the top surfaces of the partitions which are recessed to conform to the contour of and to receive said bottom. The depth of this clearance will depend upon the dimensions of the still. To take an illustration from actual workin conditions now existing in a steel still bufit in accordance with the foregoin description, said still is forty feet long an fourteen feet in diameter, and the clearance 30 is about three quarters of an inch in de th.

The object 0 this construction is as follows: v

Hitherto diificult has been experienced in applying heat wit proper uniformity to long stills of the kind referred to and moreover, the long still being supported from below only 'at its extremities its bottom plates sag downward in the middie portion not only by reason of the weight of the charge, but also by reason of the circumferential expansion of said plates under the high hea't'emloyed. This heat is commonl from 1000- to 1200 Fahr.., bringing said'p ates to a dull cherry redand causing a lowering of the elastic limit of the metal, which is more or less indeterminate, and which is very apt to result in a permanent sag of the still bottom.

By making the side furnaces separate and subjected independent of one another and by compelling the combustion products of each furnace to pass through a separate opening or downtake to the common flue 26 beneath, the gas currents are all caused to move transversely across and under the still bottom and parallel to one another. Thus the heating effect of each separate furnace is confined to a definite fractional area of the still bottom immediately over that furnace; and so by equalizing said heatin effects of the several furnaces, the whole exposed still bottom is to uniform heating.

The clearances 30 effectively prevent any excessive or permanentsagging of the still bottom because they are to be proportioned so that the bottom plates will close them and meet the partitions, and so become seated thereon before any detrimental expansion or permanent set can take place. After the bottom plates have thus become supported, the space between adjacent partitions 17 is, in the illustration above given, only about six feet, over which distance any possible deformation of the stillbottom due to expansion is negligible. I have thus done away with bothof the difliculties before mentitions and having their fire-chambers directly below the exposed bottom of said still, said partitions normally extending upward to, but not in supporting contact with, the still bottom, the clearance s aces between said partitions and the still ttombeing normally open for the entrance of combustion gases, and of such order thatwhen the bottom sags under high heat it ported on said partitions, and an ofitake flue in open communication with said compartments and said clearance spaces.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

ROBERT A. PORTERFIELD.

will be sup- 

